Musicians have been using picks for thousands of years to play stringed musical instruments in addition to using their fingers to pluck the strings. Picks save wear and tear on the musician's fingers and also can change the tone of the note.
There are two common types of picks: fingerpicks and flat picks, also called picks or plectra. Fingerpicks clip onto or wrap around the end of the fingers and thumb.
Flat picks are isosceles triangles with rounded corners that are held between the thumb and index finger and are used to play a wide variety of stringed musical instruments such as guitar, bass guitar, some styles of banjo, mandolin, and sitar to name just a few. These picks are made in a wide variety of materials.
A few stringed instruments also produce notes by hammers hitting the strings. The two most common instruments are the piano and the hammered dulcimer. Unlike guitars and most instruments played by plucking or strumming, hammered dulcimers and pianos are not held by the musician but sit independently on a table or stand alone. Hitting the strings rather than plucking or strumming produces a very different tone.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.